Steinbrenner Field

Location
Steinbrenner Field is next door neighbors with Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, on busy Dale Mabry Highway, a six-lane road choke full of commercial development.

Directions
This ballpark is easy to find. Just take I-275 to the Dale Mabry Highway/US 92 exit (41A) and travel north for about 1½ miles. The stadium is at the corner of Dale Mabry and MLK Blvd. You can't miss it.

Parking
There are 800 parking spaces behind the stadium, but they are reserved for the handicapped, season ticket and suite holders. Regular fans will need to park in the grass lots over at Raymond James Stadium, across the street from Steinbrenner Field. A pedestrian bridge above Dale Mabry enables fans to walk back and forth between the general parking lot and ballpark with ease.
Cost: $10

Stadium Information
Big and bold, Steinbrenner Field is not your typical spring training ballpark. It has the largest capacity of any in Florida's Grapefruit League and was the first to officially seat more than 10,000. Its exterior is a sight to behold. A palm tree lined plaza leading to a pond with fountains greets visitors who venture over to the area behind home plate, where a mini version of New York's Monument Park contains numbers and plaques of the 16 Yankees immortalized by the team. A nearby monument dedicated to the victims and heroes of 9/11 memorializes the Twin Towers and contains a piece of steel from the World Trade Center. Banners of Yankees legends flank the entrance of each of the stadium's six portals. A team photo of one of New York's championship squads is directly above each portal's entrance. Ringing the top of the stadium are pennants that list each of the Yankees' World Series winning years. The playing field has the same outfield measurements as Yankee Stadium. The ballpark is notable for the roof's white fašade and panels that spell out "YANKEES." It was named Legends Field from its opening on March 1, 1996 until March 27, 2008, when it was renamed in honor of longtime Yankees owner and Tampa resident George Steinbrenner, who died on July 13, 2010. Six months later, a life-sized bronze statue of "The Boss" was placed upon a pedestal outside of his namesake stadium, which is formally called George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Fast Facts

Fans enter the stadium through gates based at home plate or right field. The entrance behind home plate is one story of steps from street level and is near the Tampa version of Monument Park. The gate in right field is more convenient for the majority of arriving fans but doesn't have the aesthetic look or adjacent New York fan attractions found at the home plate gate, which prior to 2017 was the only entrance that all fans could use (thus it was a destination-designed area).

The stadium has two box offices. From the main parking lot, all fans will pass by the seven-window box office in the right field corner on their way into the stadium, as it's on the elevated walkway that the pedestrian bridge connects to. The other ticket office is at street level behind home plate and it has six windows. Both locations have dedicated windows for will call and game day sales.

The main concourse is located behind the stadium and beneath the upper grandstand so it is completely covered. Conversely, the recently added outfield extension of the concourse overlooks the field and is out in the open.

Both bullpens are down the outfield lines - the Yankees' in right, visitors' in left. Fans are not allowed to stand on the concourse above the bullpens, which each begin where the lower grandstand ends.

The only scoreboard in the stadium is a massive structure in left-center field that features a large HD video board.

Two walk-in souvenir shops are found on stadium grounds. The main team store is in the two-story building near the home plate entrance. Long known as The Legends Room, it touts itself as having the largest selection of Yankees memorabilia in the South and doesn't disappoint. For those that want to see its selection, the big version of the New York Yankees Team Store can be entered from the concourse behind section 110/210. A much smaller version of the team store can be found just inside of the right field gate.

Practice Fields

Two joined half fields and a full practice field are located behind the stadium. The full field is very fan friendly. It has three sets of bleachers, a concession stand and bathrooms. The Yankees also often utilize Steinbrenner Field for practice.

The Yankees' minor league complex is located at 3102 North Himes Avenue. To get there from Steinbrenner Field, take Dale Mabry south (towards I-275) and turn left on Columbus. Take another left at North Himes and you've arrived after a total driving distance of less than a mile.

Types of Seating
All seats in the stadium's grandstand are Major League-style and painted navy blue. A party deck is in right field.

Stadium seats: 10,386

Bleachers: none

Berm: none

Right field: Multiple rows of countertops, plus tables and cabanas

Notes about the seating

The Yankees dugout is on the first base side. If you want to sit on the home team's side of the stadium, buy your tickets in sections 102-110 or 201-210.

An aisle divides the stadium's grandstand into lower and upper sections.

Most seats in the lower grandstand are sold in advance to season ticket holders.

A special row (QQ) on the aisle is reserved for people with disabilities and their companions. These handicap accessible seats are found above sections 102-120.

The protective netting behind home plate extends from sections 108-114 and attaches to the roof above the press box.

Standing room is available behind the last row of seats in the upper grandstand.

Ushers are noted for their restrictiveness and will prevent fans from entering any 100-level section unless they have a ticket to sit there.

Sections and rows

Rows for sections in the stadium's lower grandstand range as follows:
AA to PP in sections 102-104; DD to PP in sections 105-106; AA to PP in sections 107-110; DD to PP in section 111; AA to PP in sections 112-115; DD to PP in sections 116-117; AA to PP in sections 118-120

Rows for sections in the stadium's upper grandstand range as follows:
A to K in section 203; A to L in sections 204-207; A to N in sections 208-209; A to P in sections 210-212; A to N in sections 213-214; A to L in sections 215-218; A to K in section 219

Rows for sections in the stadium's VIP Dugout Club range as follows:
AAA in sections A-B; AAA to BBB in sections C-P. If you're sitting here you're very lucky. Dugout Club seats are sold by the box ($22,800/year) or row ($11,400/year) with a three-year commitment required.

Tickets

Sections 104-118 are sold as Lower Level Infield.

Sections 102-103 and 119-120 are sold as Lower Level Outfield.

Sections 203-219 are sold as Upper Level Infield.

The new Right Field Terrace and Left Field Deck are General Admission areas with first-come, first-served seating.

Children ages 0-3 are admitted free so long as they sit on a ticket holder's lap.

Seats to avoid
There's not really a bad (or cheap) seat in the house. The worst you can do is sit in one of the four Upper Reserved seats that have their outfield corner views obstructed by TV cameras that are on top of the aisle platforms. The seats for which that's an issue are:

In section 207: seats 4-5 in row P

In section 215: seats 15-16 in row P

Seats under cover and in the shade

Rows I and up in sections 203-219 are covered by the stadium's roof.

When afternoon games begin all seats in sections 203-210 are shaded and most seats in sections 211-212 will be. So for sure shade, buy an Upper Reserved seat on the stadium's first base side or behind home plate. On the stadium's third base side, shade is more sparse. When a day game begins, it's limited to the top 4 rows (K-N) of section 213 and the top 2 rows of sections 214-219 (that's rows M & N for section 214 and rows O & P for sections 215-219). Over the course of the afternoon, additional seats in sections 213-219 become shaded from the sun, which is behind the first base grandstand.

VIP seating
There are luxury suites aplenty - 12 to be exact - in the two-story structure behind home plate, which also holds the press box and team's executive offices. The Walgreens Deck opened in 2008. Built directly behind the right field wall, it has tiered levels of countertop and picnic table seating for up to 500 people and features a full service bar and a separate special concession stand.

Game Day
As of 2020, gates open 2 hours before game time.

Food, drink and bag policy

No food can be brought into the stadium.

All water bottles are banned and must be left outside the gate, and that includes empty bottles.

Bags are allowed up to a maximum size of 16" x 16" x 8".

Getting autographs
This is one of the more difficult ballparks to obtain autographs in. Tunnels to the clubhouses for both teams are in the dugouts, which make opportunities scarce to catch a player on the way to/from the field. Yankees who sign most often do so down the right field line (sections 102-103), but only fans with 100-level tickets can get down there. Everyone else will be turned away by the ushers. The secret to getting autographs here is to show up early but to remain outside of the stadium, where some Yankees will sign as they leave the practice field that is parallel to the stadium's first base side. Even before the stadium gates open, players can be found signing on the side field. The best place(s) to be are the multiple open slots in the fence down the left field line. Four sections of the fence there have spaces through which fans can pass players items to sign and the area is the only spot on the Yankees' spring training grounds where autograph seekers are accommodated...and are generally successful.

Unique ballpark fare
There are plenty of concessions with plenty of options, so a wider variety of food is available here than at most spring training ballparks. Longtime examples include deli sandwiches and a meatball parmesan sub, which is sold at the same stand where you can get an 18" pizza...for $25! Near the first base side pizza place, an Outback Steakhouse outpost sells what many consider to be the best (and most fattening) thing on the Tampa founded and based chain's menu: their Bloomin' Onion. Draft beer is primarily limited to two choices - Bud and Bud Light - but if you search the concourse you'll also find some stands selling Budweiser Select, Miller Lite and Yuengling. At every concession stand, fountain drink service is provided by Pepsi.

Ballpark Area Info
Exactly what you'd expect on a major road in a major city, the area surrounding Steinbrenner Field has a little bit of everything, including some sketchy establishments (more than a half-dozen adult entertainment venues are nearby). But the high-end stuff isn't too far away either, as the Mercedes-Benz of Tampa dealership is across the street from the stadium's left field wall. The Dale Mabry Highway exit is a major one, and just off I-275 is where you'll find all the major big box stores. The big-time retailers represented near the exit include Best Buy, Home Depot, Target and Walmart. Between those big box chains and the Yankees' big ballpark you'll see guys with signs selling and buying tickets. Post-game, don't be surprised to see some street performers playing their saxophone near the parking lot. The scalpers, street musicians and Steinbrenner Field's overall congested location are definitely exceptions to the low-key spring training norm.

Travelers' notes

The closest Interstate is less than two miles away (I-275).

You're safe at the ballpark and in the parking lots. But don't venture too far from either by foot.

Set amidst the hustle and bustle of the area is a 132-acre green space that's just north of Steinbrenner Field. Named in honor of a baseball Hall of Famer who was a Tampa native, Al Lopez Park contains a certified 5K running course, basketball hoops, a pier for pond fishing, community center and even a dog park, all of which are dedicated at the park's entrance to "one of Tampa's favorite sons" on a sign that bears Al Lopez's autograph on a baseball. The generally visited by locals-only park is open from sunrise to sunset and is wedged between Dale Mabry Highway and Himes Avenue.